Memoirs (Georgii Shavelsky)
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| Memoirs | |
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By · Georgii Shavelsky |
Contents |
[edit] Contents-Volume I
- Chapter 1 Before the war. My appointment Protopresvitera. The first meeting with the highest
- Chapter 2 Siberia, Turkestan, the Caucasus, Stavropol, Kuban. The observations and impressions
- Chapter 3 Rasputinschina at the court
- Chapter 4 Eve of war
- Chapter 5 Russian army in the pre-time
- Chapter 6 Stake
- Chapter 7 The High Chief
- Chapter 8 The first victory and the defeat of the first
- Chapter 9 At the south-western front. The reunification of Galician member of Uniate Church
- Chapter 10 The first arrival in Gosudarya Stavku
- Chapter 11 Varshavskie administrators
- Chapter 12 Stavke In-Chief of the Supreme
- Chapter 13 Our chief
- Chapter 14 Culprits. A trip to the bishop Gerogenu
- Chapter 15 Change of Ministers
- Chapter 16 Baranovichskoy Last Days bids. The dismissal of the Supreme.
- Chapter 17 Tsar's bid
- Chapter 18 life in Stavke. State and his heir.
- Chapter 19 Religious affairs. Tobol scandal. Metropolitan Pitirim and chief prosecutor AN Volzhin.
- Chapter 20 Generals: Alexeev, Kuropatkin. Military Council in Stavke. The resignation of Adjutant-General Ivanov.
[edit] Contents-Volume II
[edit] Excerpt from pp. 260-275
The dignity of the episcopal office was given to those who were not endowed with any special gifts, such as a talent for Church administration or any special creative abilities. It was a privilege given exclusively to but one category of all persons who served the Church namely, “learned” monks… All that a student of the Theological Academy or a Candidate of Theology degree holder had to do to become a bishop was to be tonsured a monk, to claim to be a “learned” one, and thus he was certain of securing his eventual bishop’s office. Only those unfortunates destined to fail or absolutely worthless beings – and even not always those! – might have failed because they were hopeless disasters. Because of this, the exceptions were rare…
Those who had been monitoring our church life comprehend this unfortunate circumstance, which owes its development to the renowned yet infamous Anthony (Khrapovitsky).
Filled with the sense of instantaneous egocentricity, separated from the realities of life, looking down from above on his peers and on all other people, this “learned” monk rushed up the hierarchical ladder of ascent with such haste that he did not have time to make sense of what was going on within his soul, or to look around and discover his environment and himself….
Unlike other Local Orthodox Churches, for the Russian Orthodox Church the Episcopal office and the entire bishop’s life were marked by special grandeur, luxury and solemnity. One undoubtedly could discern in this the fundamental underlying issue: to elevate the dignity of the bishop’s office and his vocation. However, we should point out that this grandeur and solemnity of the bishop’s office was often overemphasized to the extent that it became absurd, turning into a complete distortion of the concept of the Episcopal vocation. It was done by those who carried out an unreasonable manifestation of the significance of the Episcopal office, and by bishops themselves who were haughty and career minded. Our hierarchs were like coddled, conceited and pampered debutantes used to sleeping on soft pillowed couches, dressed in silks and luxury, riding exclusively in ornate coaches… The ostentatious glitz and grandeur often was but a cover up for spiritual pettiness of the bearer of the highest sacred rank and dignity, however, that did not suffice to compensate for the lack of class. Sooner or later the sham was brought to light, either by the people themselves or by the man’s own deeds…. One cannot substitute an idol for a miracle-working icon… Ultimately, it was the Church that suffered horribly.
… The excessive outpouring of awards and medals of honor upon the bishops as practiced only in the Russian Church and strictly condemned by the Holy Canons, the common and routine system of rewarding bishops by transferring from poor to wealthy sees, and vice versa, as a means of punishment, absolutely unthinkable in other Orthodox Churches, led to widespread careerism and obsession with earthly glory and awards…
… Certainly, there were some worthy bishops in our episcopate. However, I think they would be more successful in their episcopal vocation if they had completed a thorough theological schooling and if they would have been surrounded by worthy peers….
…If a future historian would look in the documents of our times and vividly depict the scenario of methods, ways and tools of bishops’ administration, then his contemporaries will marvel at how it could happen that in the chaos and confusion of the Church administration the Church was able to survive, and that our Rus’ could remain both great and holy…
… After all the above was said, I have just one insoluble question: why was it not possible to find from a nation of 150 million talented Russian Orthodox persons just 100 men who having been elected to their Episcopal sees would simply by Christian living and Archpastoral wisdom illuminate the entire Church? An affirmative answer must be found for this question. If this is so, it has become even more transparent and amazing, this irrational, criminally negligent light-minded irresponsibility, which characterizes our process of choice and preparation of the Church leaders…
Those who sincerely love the Church are waiting for serious Church reforms – by no means reformation. And those who really are aware of the Church illnesses will agree with me that the very first reform should concern our episcopate.
[edit] Editor's Notes:
Ironically, it was Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) who pushed through the reform of the theological schools, making them more in touch with reality. An action for which he was criticized not only by the above author but by many others, including Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky), the founder of the American Metropolia. Largely because many, Metropolitan Platon included, lost their jobs when Metropolitan Anthony "cleaned house" at the Kiev Theological Academy.
